Centennial 
Celebration 


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An  Historical  Address 


Delivered  in  Saint  Matthew's  Church 

HlLLSBORO,  N.  C.j  ON  SUNDAY, 

August  24,,  1924 
being  the 

One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Parish 


PRINTED     BY     ORDER     OF     THE  VESTRY 


by 


Joseph  Blount  Cheshire,  D.D. 
Bishop  of  North  Carolina 


With  a  Foreword  by  the  Rector 


PRESSES  OF 
CHRISTIAN  &  KING  PRINTING  COMPANY 
DURHAM,  NORTH  CAROLINA 

1925 


sw 

So.  0?\l 

FOREWORD 

By  The  Rector 

The  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of 
Saint  Matthew's  Church,  Hillsboro,  N.  C,  was  fittingly 
observed  on  Sunday,  August  24,  1924.  The  services  of 
the  day  were  as  follows: 

8 :00  A.M. — Celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion. 
11 :00  A.M. — Holy  Communion  with  historical  address 
b}7  the  Bishop. 
8 :00  P.M. — Confirmation  and  addresses  by  visiting 
clergymen  and  laymen. 
Besides  the  Rector,  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  De  Lancey 
Benton,  there  were  present  and  assisting  in  the  services, 
the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  the  Right  Reverend  Joseph 
Blount  Cheshire,  D.D.,  and  the  Archdeacon  of  Raleigh, 
the  Venerable  Morrison  Bethea. 

By  all  admission,  the  outstanding  event  of  the  day 
was  the  Bishop's  address  at  the  eleven  o'clock  service. 
That  it  might  be  printed  and  widely  distributed  was  the 
generalty  expressed  wish  of  those  who  heard  it.  It  ap- 
pears, therefore,  elsewhere  in  this  publication. 

In  the  evening,  at  eight  o'clock,  the  church  was  again 
filled  to  overflowing.  The  service  began  with  the  Order 
of  Confirmation.  Among  those  receiving  the  rite  were 
two  great-great-granddaughters  of  Chief  Justice  Ruffin, 
who  gave  the  valuable  site  where  now  stand  the  church 


[3] 


and  rectory.  Following  this  Mr.  J.  Cheshire  Webb,  of 
Hillsboro,  introduced  the  speakers  of  the  evening:  Arch- 
deacon Bethea,  Mr.  Samuel  S.  Nash  of  Tarboro,  and  Mr. 
D.  Heyward  Hamilton  of  Baltimore.  Especially  fine,  it 
should  be  said,  was  the  music  at  the  several  services  under 
the  direction  of  Mrs.  William  D.  Benton.  It  showed  the 
ability  of  the  choir  to  sing,  and  sing  well,  the  highest 
order  of  church  music.  Thus  everything  combined  to 
make  a  day  of  much  interest  and  many  congratulations. 

On  the  following  evening,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
women  of  the  parish,  a  reception  was  held  at  the  rectory. 
In  spite  of  the  unfavorable  weather,  it  was  largely  at- 
tended by  church-folk  and  others,  some  of  whom  came 
from  far-away  places  outside  the  State.  A  pleasing  fea- 
ture of  the  occasion  was  "A  Tribute  to  Old  Saint 
Matthew's,"  written  by  Mrs.  Benton  and  sung  with  fine 
effect  by  Mrs.  Alexander  H.  Graham  and  the  choir.  Alto- 
gether, an  evening  of  rare  enjoyment,  and  one  not  soon 
to  be  forgotten. 

Mention  must  here  be  made  of  another  matter.  Suc- 
cessful as  the  celebration  undoubtedly  was,  it  left  indeed 
one  thing  to  be  desired,  the  presence  of  the  honored  and 
beloved  senior  warden,  Major  John  W.  Graham,  LL.D., 
who  was  absent  because  of  illness. 

So  came  the  centennial  observance  of  Saint  Matthew's 
to  its  fair  and  happy  completion.  May  it  mark  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  parish,  an  epoch 
of  fuller  life,  of  larger  growth,  of  higher  usefulness. 


[41 


ST.  MATTHEW'S  CHURCH 

HlLLSBORO 
AND 

ST.  MATTHEW'S  PARISH 

ORANGE  COUNTY 
BY 

Joseph  Blount  Cheshire,  D.D. 

And  these  all,  having  obtained  a  good  report  through  faith, 
received  not  the  promise: 

God  having  provided  some  better  things  for  us,  that  they 
without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect. 

Hebrews  XI:  39.40. 
The  relation  between  us,  who  are  alive  in  this  visible 
world,  and  those  who  have  passed  on  to  the  higher  state, 
not  apprehended  by  our  mortal  senses,  remains  a  mystery. 
Someone  has  defined  a  mystery  to  be  a  light  shining  behind 
a  cloud.  This  illustrates  what  I  mean.  They  are  hidden 
by  the  Cloud  into  which  they  have  passed;  but  certainly 
the  light  of  their  love  and  goodness  is  not  wholly  quenched. 
It  still  shines  from  behind  the  Cloud;  our  hearts  are  still 
cheered  and  comforted  by  their  beautiful  and  blessed  spir- 
its. It  is  a  wholesome  and  strengthening  and  ennobling 
truth,  that  Communion  of  Saints,  which  we  assert  in  the 
Creed,  springing  from  the  finest  human  sentiment,  and 
based  on  the  sure  ground  of  Scripture  teaching.  We  are 
all  one  in  Christ ;  not  only  all  who  love  and  serve  him  here, 
but  also  all  who  have  gone  before.  We  look  forward  to 
a  joyful  reunion;  they  await  our  coming,  that  we  may 
together  advance  to  our  final  consummation:  "All  these, 
having  obtained  a  good  report  through  faith,  received  not 

[5] 


the  promise:  God  having  provided  some  better  thing  for 
us,  that  they  without  us  should  not  be  made  perfect."  We 
are  embraced  in  a  common  bond  in  Christ;  we  look  for- 
ward to  a  common  joy. 

Another  thought  seems  proper  on  this  occasion.  We 
instinctively  think  and  speak  well  of  the  departed:  De 
Mortuis  nil  nisi  Bonum.  Now  this  sentiment  may  be  exag- 
gerated, and  so  may  degenerate  into  insincerity  and  dis- 
honesty. But  in  principle  I  believe  it  to  be  just  and  right. 
In  a  very  true  and  real  sense  it  is  the  good  in  the  man 
which  is  the  real  man.  The  bad  is  often  but  a  lapse,  a  fall 
from  his  real  self,  a  misrepresentation  of  his  true  nature, 
and  of  the  real  effort  and  aim  of  his  life.  In  his  physical 
life  a  man  has  an  infirmity,  a  disease,  a  twisted  or  de- 
formed member,  the  scar  of  a  deadly  wound.  We  recog- 
nize these  as  imperfections,  marring  the  strength  and 
beauty  of  the  body.  But  we  do  not  think  of  these  defects 
as  an  essential  part  of  the  man.  They  are  accidents, 
temporary  and  passing  phases  of  incompleteness  and 
imperfection,  which  in  its  growth  and  development  the 
healthy  organism  will  eliminate,  throw  off,  correct,  out- 
grow. They  have  no  essential  part  in  our  idea  of  the 
man's  physical  being.  In  the  same  way  I  think  we  have 
an  instinctive  feeling  that  much  of  the  evil  and  sin,  many 
defects  of  the  man,  are  but  passing  conditions  of  our  tem- 
porary, human,  struggling  and  failing  nature;  and  that 
they  will  be  laid  in  the  grave  with  the  corruptible  elements 
of  our  mortal  bodies;  that  they  are  not  of  the  essence  of 
the  man.  There  is  a  deep,  and  I  believe  a  true,  human 
instinct  that  remembers  our  departed  by  the  best  that 
is  in  them,  and  reveres  and  honors  them. 

[6] 


I  have  to  speak  of  the  past  and  of  the  men  of  the  past ; 
and  I  thank  God  that  I  can  speak  of  them  with  gratitude 
and  with  admiration.  They  were  not  faultless.  Doubt- 
less they  were  much  as  men  since  have  been,  and  are  now. 
But  today  we  remember  before  God  their  good  deeds,  and 
thank  God  for  them.  On  their  foundations  we  build;  all 
that  is  best  in  us  and  in  our  work  has,  in  a  way,  come 
from  them.  As  the  wise  Son  of  Serach  says :  "Let  us  now 
praise  famous  men  and  our  fathers  that  begat  us.  There 
be  of  them,  that  have  left  a  name  behind  them,  that  their 
praises  might  be  reported.  And  some  there  be  which  have 
no  memorial  *  *  *.  Their  bodies  are  buried  in  peace;  but 
their  name  liveth  forever."   (Eccles.  XLIVrl  .8.9.14). 

The  particular  event,  of  which  we  now  observe  the  one 
hundredth  anniversary,  is  the  organization  of  the  Parish 
of  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Hillsboro,  under  the  Canons  of 
the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina  and  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

But  when  we  say  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Hillsboro,  our 
memory  unavoidably  goes  back  beyond  the  one  hundred 
years  of  the  history  of  this  particular  phase  of  the  life 
of  this  parish.  The  organization  of  one  hundred  years 
ago  was  the  gathering  together  of  the  remains  of  an  ear- 
lier Church  life.  It  was  taking  up  the  broken  threads  of 
the  two  ends  of  a  parted  cable,  and  renewing  a  sundered 
continuity.  There  had  been  a  St.  Matthew's  Church, 
Hillsboro,  long  before  1824.  I  propose  to  go  back  a 
little  in  my  review  of  the  past. 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  speak  in  some  detail  of  the  Ecclesi- 
astical legislation  of  the  Province  of  North  Carolina,  of 
the  laws  relating  to  the  establishment  and  support  of  the 

[7] 


Church.  No  chapter  in  American  history  has  been  more 
erroneously  written  or  more  commonly  misunderstood. 
Writers  in  the  period  following  the  Revolution,  when  pre- 
judices were  inflamed,  and  access  to  contemporaneous 
Colonial  authorities  was  difficult,  accepted,  and  passed 
on  as  facts,  statements  entirely  incorrect,  which  are  sup- 
ported by  no  contemporary  evidence,  and  which  are  in 
many  cases  contradicted  by  adequate  contemporary  docu- 
mentary proof.  Our  own  Dr.  Hawks,  who  did  so  much 
to  recover  the  Church  records  of  our  Colonial  period,  did 
not  wholly  escape  this  error.  Dr.  Carruthers,  for  exam- 
ple, in  his  life  of  David  Caldwell,  says  that  the  Church  in 
the  Province  was  established,  and  that  the  clergy  were 
paid,  by  the  English  Government ;  that  there  were  oppres- 
sive laws  against  dissenters;  and  that  the  Presbyterian 
clergy  were  subjected  to  an  "odious  test";  with  other 
allegations  of  a  similar  character. 

I  can  only  say  in  passing  that  all  these  allegations 
are  entirely  untrue,  in  the  sense  in  which  they  were  in- 
tended, and  in  which  they  have  been  generally  understood. 
Thy  were,  I  am  sure,  not  made  maliciously.  Such  a  man 
as  Dr.  Carruthers,  I  am  quite  certain,  was  incapable  of 
an  intentional  misrepresentation.  He  was  simply  misin- 
formed on  some  points,  and  seems  on  others  to  have  quite 
misunderstood  the  true  character  and  purpose  of  the 
legislation  he  complains  of.  The  British  Government  had 
no  more  to  do  with  establishing  the  Church  of  England 
in  the  Province  of  North  Carolina  than  with  establishing 
the  Presbyterian  Order  and  Ministry  in  the  Puritan  Colo- 
nies of  New  England.  It  never  paid  a  penny  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  Clergy  of  the  Province.    And  the  "test," 

[8] 


which  Dr.  Carruthers  speaks  of  as  "odious"  and  as  being 
imposed  upon  dissenting  ministers,  was  also  imposed  on 
the  Clergy  of  the  Church,  and  on  civil  officers  as  well, 
Sheriffs,  Magistrates,  and  all  others ;  and  was  in  fact 
simply  a  declaration  against  the  Romish  doctrines  of 
Transubstantiation,  and  of  the  Supremacy  of  the  Pope! 
Why  it  was  a  hardship  upon  the  Presbyterian  ministers 
to  make  such  a  declaration,  Dr.  Carruthers  does  not  say. 

The  Ecclesiastical  legislation  of  the  Province  of  North 
Carolina,  as  of  the  other  American  Colonies,  was  the 
action  of  the  people  themselves,  in  accordance  with  the 
ideas  of  the  day,  making  public  provision  for  public  wor- 
ship. Each  County,  upon  being  constituted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Province,  was  also  made  a  Parish; 
and  the  freeholders  of  the  County  were  authorized  on 
Easter  Monday  in  each  year,  in  an  election  held  by  the 
Sheriff  of  the  County,  to  elect  twelve  vestrymen  for  the 
parish;  and  the  vestrymen  were  authorized  to  lay  taxes 
for  building  churches,  purchasing  glebes,  and  supporting 
the  Clergy.  Where  the  people  desired  the  services  of  the 
Church,  the  vestry  exercised  this  authority,  and  thus  pro- 
vided for  the  worship  of  the  Church.  Where  the  people 
did  not  desire  such  services,  the  vestrymen  simply  neg- 
lected to  put  the  law  into  effect.* 


*This  is  illustrated  by  the  case  of  Rowan  County,  where  occurred  the 
only  attempt,  of  which  I  have  seen  any  record,  to  put  the  Vestry  Act  into 
effect  in  a  parish  where  a  majority  of  the  people  appear  not  to  have  desired 
it.  There  was  a  large  settlement  of  Lutherans  in  this  County.  Having  no 
ministers  of  their  own,  they  seem  to  have  co-operated  with  the  Churchmen. 
In  the  year  1769,  the  Rev.  Theodore  Swain  Drage  was  sent  to  that  parish. 
He  went  earnestly  to  work  to  have  the  Vestry  Act  executed;  to  have  a 
church  built,  and  taxes  laid  for  the  support  of  the  parish.  This  roused  the 
antagonism  of  the  dominant  Presbyterian  majority,  who  in  the  next  election 
for  vestrymen  chose  their  own  elders  and  deacons  who,  refusing  to  carry 
out  the  provisions  of  the  law,  compelled  the  abandonment  of  this  effort  to 
establish  the  Church  in  Rowan  County.    This  is  the  only  case  of  such  an 

[9] 


The  Assembly  of  1752  erected  the  County  of  Orange 
from  portions  of  the  Counties  of  Granville,  Johnston,  and 
Bladen;  and  constituted  the  new  County  a  parish,  by  the 
name  of  St.  Matthew's  Parish.  This  Act  seems  to  have 
been  abolished  by  royal  proclamation;  and  a  new  Act 
(1756 :  C.  XXII)  reconstituted  both  county  and  parish. 

March  12th,  1766,  the  Bishop  of  London  licensed  the 
Rev.  George  Micklejohn  for  work  in  North  Carolina;  and 
shortly  after  his  arrival  in  the  Province  Governor  Tryon 
appointed  him  to  St.  Matthew's  Parish,  Orange  County. 

This  Colonial  Parson  Micklejohn  is  one  of  the  most 
notable  of  the  many  notable  men  whose  names  have  been 
associated  with  the  history  of  Orange  County  and  St. 
Matthew's  Parish.  He  was  born  about  the  year  1717. 
In  the  parish  records  of  Emmanuel  Church,  Warrenton, 
with  which  he  never  had  any  connection,  I  have  seen 
an  entry  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Rev.  Cameron  F.  Mac- 
Rae,  stating  that  this  Rev.  George  Micklejohn  was  born 
at  Berwick  on  Tweed;  that  he  was  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Cambridge ;  that  he  had  served  as  Chaplain 
under  Frederick  the  Great  (probably  in  some  English 
regiment)  ;  and  that  he  was  with  the  Duke  of  Cumberland 
at  the  Battle  of  Culloden* 

Whatever  may  have  been  his  earlier  history,  his  career 
in  North  Carolina  was  adventurous  and  interesting.  For 

attempt  which  I  have  been  able  to  discover  in  any  part  of  the  Province 
during  this  period. 

When  the  Moravian  settlements  had  been  made  in  Rowan  County,  that 
part  of  the  county  which  was  occupied  by  the  Moravians  was,  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Province  (Act  of  1755,  C.  XIII),  set  off  as  a  separate 
parish,  Dobbs  Parish,  that  the  Moravians  might  control  it. 

Whether  as  a  matter  of  enlightened  policy,  or  only  by  the  guidance  of  a 
good  Providence,  the  legislation  of  the  Province  was  such  that  it  gave 
little  occasion  for  sectarian  contentions. 

*I  have  been  unable  to  discover  Mr.  MacRae's  authority  for  these  state- 
ments concerning  Parson  Micklejohn. 

[10] 


fifty  years  he  was  a  notable  character  in  this  part  of  the 
New  World.  The  first  conspicuous  incident  in  this  later 
half  of  his  life  was  in  connection  with  the  Regulator  trou- 
bles of  1768. 

Governor  Try  on  had  gathered  the  military  forces  of 
the  Province  at  Hillsboro,  both  from  the  East  and  the 
West.f  On  Sunday,  September  25th,  by  order  of  the  Gov- 
ernor (apparently),  the  Rev.  Henry  Patillo,  the  Presby- 
terian Pastor  of  Nutbush,  in  Granville  County,  preached 
to  the  Mecklenburg  and  Rowan  Brigade;  and  the  Rev. 
George  Micklejohn,  of  St.  Matthew's  Parish,  Orange 
County,  to  the  Granville  and  Orange  Brigade.  Mr. 
Micklejohn's  sermon,  on  the  text  Rom.  XIII:  1,  "The 
powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God,"  etc.,  was  afterward 
published,  and  the  following  November  Governor  Try  on 
prensented  one  hundred  copies  of  this  sermon  to  the 
Provincial  Assembly  in  session  at  Newbern,  with  a  mes- 
sage very  highly  commendatory.  Both  preachers  were 
thanked  for  their  sermons  in  the  Orders  for  the  Day, 
Monday,  September  26th. 

In  the  more  serious  Regulation  troubles  of  the  year 
1771,  culminating  in  the  battle  of  Alamance,  and  in  the 
conviction  and  capital  punishment  of  five  of  the  Regu- 
lators, captured  in  that  battle,  Parson  Micklejohn  ap- 
pears again,  as  indeed  a  supporter  of  "the  Powers  that 
be,"  but  with  strong  and  helpful  sympathies  for  his 
friends  and  parishioners  concerned  in  the  uprising.  There 
is  an  interesting  illustration  of  this  in  a  well  known  tra- 

tAmong  the  eminent  men  thus  assembled  in  Hillsboro,  in  connection  with 
military  demonstration — for  happily  it  was  nothing  more — we  find  these: 
Colonel  Adlai  Osborne,  Moses  Alexander,  Maurice  and  James  Moore,  Francis 
and  Abner  Nash,  Samuel  Swann,  John  Rutherford,  Lewis  DeRosset,  Sam- 
uel Strudwick,  John  Ashe,  Alexander  Lillington,  et  al. 

[11] 


dition,  unauthenticated  by  contemporary  documentary 
proof,  but  so  generally  received,  and  so  supported  by  cir- 
cumstantial evidence,  that  I  believe  it  to  be  substantially 
true. 

General  Thomas  Person,  after  whom  Person  County 
is  named,  was  a  distinguished  man  in  his  day,  a  leading 
patriot  of  the  Revolution,  and  also  remembered  as  a 
Trustee  and  generous  benefactor  of  our  State  University, 
one  of  its  early  buildings  being  called  Person  Hall,  in  his 
honor.  Person  was  a  Churchman  and  a  friend  of  the 
Hillsboro  Parson,  but  he  was  in  active  sympathy  with  the 
Regulators  of  1771,  and  was,  Colonel  Saunders  says, 
exempted  by  Tryon  from  the  Amnesty  declared  after  the 
suppression  of  the  uprising. 

The  tradition  is  that  at  this  period  Person  was  for  a 
time  confined  in  the  gaol  at  Hillsboro  under  a  charge  of  a 
treasonable  nature;  and  that  earnest  efforts  were  being 
made  to  discover  incriminating  evidence  against  him.  Ap- 
prehending that  his  house  at  Goshen  might  be  searched, 
and  damaging  evidence  discovered  in  his  private  cor- 
respondence, he  invoked  the  aid  of  his  friend,  Parson 
Micklejohn.  Between  them,  as  the  story  goes,  they  per- 
suaded the  Sheriff  to  permit  Person  to  leave  the  gaol,  as 
soon  as  the  twilight  of  the  summer  evening  allowed  him 
to  do  so  without  being  observed,  and  upon  Parson  Mickle- 
john's  standing  surety  for  his  return  before  day-light  the 
next  morning.  Goshen  is  about  thirty  miles  from  Hills- 
boro, "as  the  crow  flies."  How  far  it  was  up  and  down 
the  long  red-clay  hills  and  along  the  devious  country  roads 
of  1771,  I  cannot  tell.  But  Parson  Micklejohn  was  the 
proud  owner  of  a  thoroughbred  mare,  and  her  fleet  feet 

[12] 


carried  his  friend  to  Goshen  before  midnight.  There  Per- 
son selected  from  his  papers  all  which  might  be  repre- 
sented or  interpreted  to  his  disadvantage ;  hid  them  in  the 
"pud-lock"  holes  of  a  brick-kiln ;  remounted  and  was  in 
Hillsboro,  and  back  in  the  custody  of  the  Sheriff,  before 
day-light.  And  Parson  Micklejohn,  on  his  mettlesome 
mare,  was  seen  enjoying  at  his  usual  hour  his  morning's 
ride ;  so  that  no  one  could  have  believed  that  the  mare  had 
been  ridden  over  sixty  miles  within  the  past  few  hours. 

The  next  interesting  mention  of  the  Hillsboro  Parson 
is  at  the  opening  of  the  Revolutionary  Congress  of  1775, 
of  which  the  Rev.  Henry  Patillo  was  a  member.*  August 
20th,  we  read  in  its  record :  "Resolved  that  Colonel  Fran- 
cis Nash  wait  on  the  Rev.  George  Micklejohn  and  request 
him  to  attend  and  to  perform  divine  service;  pursuant  to 
which  he  attended  [and]  opened  the  Congress  by  reading 
prayers  in  the  Church  at  Hillsboro. "f 

But  the  next  time  we  find  the  Presbyterian  and  the 
Churchman  associated  it  is  in  a  very  different  mutual 
relation.  The  Rev.  Henry  Patillo,  as  has  been  said,  was 
a  member  of  the  Congress  of  1775 ;  he  was  also  a  member 
of  the  famous  Halifax  Congress  of  1776.  He  doubtless 
united  reverently  in  the  prayers  read  by  the  Rector 
August  20th,  1775,  in  the  Church  at  Hillsboro.  Less  than 

*  At  the  Hillsboro  Congress  of  August  20th,  1775,  as  also  at  the  Halifax 
Congress  of  April,  1776,  almost  all  the  eminent  men  of  the  Province  and 
the  leaders  in  the  Revolution  were  present.  It  is  impossible  to  name  them 
all:  Hooper,  Johnston,  Hewes,  Moore,  Maclaine,  Avery,  Martin,  Nash,  Alex- 
ander, Ashe,  Haywood,  Irwin,  Hill,  Sumner,  Polk,  Blount,  Harnett,  Caswell, 
Person,  etc.,  etc. — a  complete  muster-roll,  we  might  say,  of  the  leading  men 
of  the  State. 

t  The  last  Resolution  of  the  first  day's  session  of  this  Congress  was:  "That 
the  Rev.  Henry  Patillo  be  requested  to  read  prayers  to  the  Congress  every 
morning  a«d  the  Rev.  Charles  Edward  Taylor  every  evening  during  his 
stay."  (Colonial  Records  X.169.)  The  Rev.  Charles  Edward  Taylor  was  Rec- 
tor of  St.  George's  Parish,  Northampton  County. 

[13] 


a  year  later,  sitting  as  a  member  of  the  Halifax  Congress 
in  April,  1776,  he  passed  sentence  on  George  Micklejohn 
— I  assume  that  it  was  the  same  George  Micklejohn — one 
of  the  Tories  and  Regulators  captured  at  Moore's  Creek. 
He  was  paroled  for  the  rest  of  the  war,  provided  he  re- 
mained "in  Perquimans,  in  that  part  of  said  County  on 
the  south  side  of  the  river,  with  leave  of  14  days  to  pre- 
pare himself."  This  action  was  taken  by  the  Halifax 
Congress  only  in  the  case  of  persons  whose  character  and 
importance  made  it  probable  that  they  would  exert  an 
influence  in  their  own  communities  adverse  to  the  cause 
of  the  Revolution.  We  know  of  no  person  of  this  name 
in  the  Colony  save  the  Rector  of  St.  Matthew's  Parish. 
My  conjecture  is  that,  as  many  of  the  Regulators  were 
his  Orange  County  parishioners,  and  the  Highlanders  of 
Cumberland  County  were  accompanied  by  many  of  the 
Orange  County  Regulators,  their  Clergyman,  being  a 
zealous  loyalist,  had  gone  with  his  loyal  parishioners,  and 
so  was  among  those  captured  after  the  disastrous  defeat 
of  Moore's  Creek. 

I  have  found  no  further  account  of  Parson  Mickle- 
john until  after  the  Revolution.  And  now  he  reaped  the 
reward  of  his  generous  friendship  for  the  imprisoned 
Thomas  Person.  General  Person  had  been  one  of  the  most 
active  and  prominent  characters  during  the  Revolution 
in  North  Carolina.  After  hostilities  had  ceased  he  gave 
his  old  friend,  Parson  Micklejohn,  a  refuge  at  his  Gran- 
ville home,  Goshen.  The  place  has  been  pointed  out  to 
me  where  stood  the  house,  near  General  Person's  residence, 
in  which  Mr.  Micklejohn  lived.  How  long  he  resided  here 
I  do  not  know.    I  think  it  must  have  been  through  the 


[14] 


first  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.  I  have  myself 
known  persons  whom  he  had  baptized  as  infants  well  on 
into  this  period.  Once  or  twice  a  year,  as  long  as  he 
was  able  to  travel,  he  made  his  rounds  from  Granville  up 
through  Orange  and  what  is  now  Alamance,  preaching 
and  baptizing  the  children  and  the  grandchildren  of  his 
old  St.  Matthew's  parishioners. 

He  seems  to  have  been  recognized  after  the  Revolution 
as  the  leading  clergyman  of  our  Church  in  the  State.  At 
the  Convention  held  in  Tarborough  in  November,  1790, 
in  an  effort  to  organize  the  Diocese,  he  was  elected  Presi- 
dent of  the  Convention,  and  John  Norwood,  of  Franklin 
County,  was  the  Secretary.  Reliable  tradition  represents 
Mr.  Micklejohn  as  having  officiated  at  this  period  in  St. 
John's  Church,  Williamsboro,  at  Shocco  Chapel  in  War- 
ren County,  and  also  in  Franklin  County,  where  John 
Norwood  was  lay-reader.  This  John  Norwood  married 
the  widow  Whitaker,  whose  maiden  name  was  Leah  Lenoir, 
sister  of  General  William  Lenoir,  and  daughter  of  a  good 
Colonial  churchman,  Thomas  Lenoir,  of  Edgecombe. 
Their  son,  Judge  William  Norwood,  was  one  of  the  origi- 
nal members  of  this  parish  at  its  organization  in  1824. 

Tradition  has  not  been  disposed  to  flatter  the  char- 
acter of  George  Micklejohn.  The  foibles  of  the  Clergy 
always  attract  the  criticism  of  the  people;  and  perhaps 
it  is  right  that  they  should  be  judged  strictly.  But  on 
the  whole  we  cannot  refuse  our  respect  to  a  man  who,  in 
those  trying  times,  exposed  to  the  malice  of  the  evil- 
minded  of  all  parties,  was  a  friend  to  men  on  both  sides; 
and  whose  associations,  so  far  as  appears,  were  entirely 
with  the  best  and  most  eminent  characters,  even  among 

[15] 


those  separated  from  him  by  the  bitterness  of  national 
prejudice  and  political  rancour.  He  is  represented  in 
popular  tradition  as  a  small  man,  but  of  great  physical 
strength  and  athletic  prowess;  in  his  old  age  (for  he  was 
already  nearly  fifty  when  he  came  to  Hillsboro  in  1766) 
excelling  most  young  men  in  feats  of  strength  and  agility. 
His  wife  is  said  to  have  left  him,  and  to  have  given  him 
an  ineradicable  distrust  of  women.  This  was  probably 
before  he  came  to  America.  It  is  said  that  he  would  accept 
no  fee  for  marriages  or  other  services,  except  a  golden 
doubloon  (about  33  shillings,  or  $8.00),  his  reason  being 
that  he  kept  his  cash  in  a  "money  belt,"  and  the  doubloon 
was  of  the  proper  size  to  fit  into  this  receptacle.  There 
was  a  story  in  the  Norwood  family  that  on  some  occasion 
he  gave  his  money  belt  to  his  friend  John  Norwood  to  keep 
for  a  time.  Mr.  Norwood  had  a  fine  wife,  this  Leah  Le- 
noir, of  Edgecombe,  and  like  many  other  good  and  pru- 
dent men,  he  trusted  much  of  his  most  important  business 
to  her.  He  therefore  gave  the  Parson's  moneybelt  into 
her  keeping.  When  Mr.  Micklejohn  came  for  it,  Mr. 
Norwood  called  on  Mrs.  Norwood  to  produce  it.  The 
Parson  looked  upon  him  with  amazement  and  indignation : 
"What!  You  trust  my  money  to  that  woman?"  And  he 
never  again  asked  Mr.  Norwood  to  keep  his  money  for 
him. 

He  is  said  to  have  preached  in  the  Court  House  in 
Warrenton  late  in  his  life.  Old  Mrs.  Judge  Battle  remem- 
bered hearing  that  a  colored  maid,  having  seen  the  strange 
sight  of  the  little  old  man  enveloped  in  his  black  gown, 
on  his  way  to  the  Court  House  where  he  was  to  have  ser- 

[16] 


vice,  ran  to  her  mistress  in  great  alarm,  and  said  she  had 
seen  the  old  black  devil  going  along  the  street. 

As  has  been  said,  he  removed  from  Granville  County 
to  Virginia,  probably  about  the  year  1810.  He  resided 
in  Mecklenburg  County,  Virginia,  in  St.  James'  Parish, 
of  which  Bishop  Ravcnscroft  had  been  rector  for  a  few 
years,  when  in  1823  he  was  called  to  be  the  Bishop  of 
North  Carolina.  The  Rev.  Philip  Slaughter,  an  eminent 
authority,  I  believe,  upon  the  Church  history  of  Virginia, 
conjectures  that  he  may  have  had  charge  of  this  parish; 
but  Bishop  Meads  is  probably  correct  in  thinking  that  he 
never  had  any  pastoral  charge  in  Virginia. 

He  was  an  attendant  upon  Bishop  Ravenscroft's  minis- 
trations during  the  first  year  of  his  Rectorship  of  St. 
James'  Parish.  It  is  said  that  the  Rector  upon  one 
occasion  in  preaching  referred  to  the  presence  in  the  con- 
gregation of  his  venerable  brother,  "Who  could  give  the 
witness  of  a  century  to  Christ."  The  old  man  seemed  to 
resent  being  called  a  hundred  years  old,  and  interrupted 
the  preacher:  "Na,  mon,  na;  ninety-acht,  ninety-acht" 

In  a  list  of  the  Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Virginia,  ap- 
pended to  the  Journal  of  the  General  Convention  of  1817, 
is  this  entry:  "The  Rev.  George  Micklejohn  (aged  100) 
Mecklenburg."  He  is  said  to  have  died  in  the  year  1818 
at  the  house  of  William  Burchett,  in  Mecklenburg  County, 
Virginia. 

In  November,  1880,  I  visited  a  Mrs.  Tabitha  Black- 
wood, near  the  track  of  the  railroad  from  University  Sta- 
tion to  Chapel  Hill,  half  a  mile  beyond  where  it  crosses 
the  Hillsboro  road  by  New  Hope  Creek  bridge.  She  was 
born  in  1802,  and  was  baptized,  along  with  other  children, 

[17] 


in  Granville  County,  and  remembered  distinctly  the  name 
of  the  man  who  had  baptized  her,  and  that  he  had  said 
something  about  "the  blessed  children,  the  blessed  chil- 
dren." She  repeated  the  words  several  times.  The  pic- 
ture of  our  Saviour  blessing  little  children,  as  illustrated 
by  the  act  of  the  Clergyman  in  his  vestments  taking  the 
child  into  his  arms  and  baptizing  it,  had  evidently  im- 
pressed itself  on  her  memory.  I  questioned  her  closely. 
She  could  not  remember  her  age  when  baptized;  but  said 
she  was  a  "good  bit  of  a  girl."  I  judged  from  her  account 
that  she  could  not  have  been  under  five  years  old.  I  think 
therefore  that  we  are  safe  in  saying  that  Mr.  Micklejohn's 
services  in  Granville  did  not  cease  much,  if  at  all,  before 
the  year  1810. 

I  have  been  told  on  good  authority  that  old  Mr.  Philip 
Walker,  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Orange  County,  stated 
that  on  one  occasion  Mr.  Micklejohn  baptized  sixty  chil- 
dren at  the  house  of  his  grandfather,  John  Latta. 

Something  should  be  said  of  the  church,  i.e.,  of  the 
structure,  first  erected  as  the  Parish  Church  of  St.  Mat- 
thew's Parish.  It  had  very  notable  association,  and  was 
the  place  in  which  famous  assemblies  met,  deliberated  and 
determined  some  of  the  most  critical  questions  ever  raised 
in  the  history  of  our  State.  It  was  built,  I  know  not  in 
what  year,  but  some  time  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revo- 
lution. The  location  was  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
Churton  and  Tryon  Streets,  where  the  Library  now 
stands;  and  the  grave-yard,  St.  Matthew's  Church-yard, 
was,  after  the  manner,  the  good  custom,  of  our  Mother 
Church  in  the  old  land,  the  common  burying-ground  of  all 
the  people.    The  church  was  a  framed  wooden  structure, 

[18  1 


and  must,  I  think,  have  been  of  considerable  size,  probably 
with  galleries  around  three  sides,  and  capable  of  seating 
several  hundred  persons.  This  must  have  been  the  case, 
since  we  know  that  large  Conventions  held  their  sessions 
in  the  building.  The  Journal  of  the  Congress  of  August, 
1775,  does  not  specifically  state  that  its  sessions  were  held 
in  the  church,  but  I  think  that  record  distinctly  implies 
that  they  were.  The  very  famous  State  Convention  of 
July  and  August,  1788,  which  by  a  majority  of  one  hun- 
dred votes  refused  to  ratify  the  Federal  Constitution,  met 
"in  the  church;"  such  is  the  record  in  its  Journal.  Mr. 
Griffith  McRee,  in  his  excellent  Life  of  Judge  Iredell,  says 
that  the  Convention  met  in  "the  Presbyterian  Church." 
At  that  time  there  was  no  Presbyterian  Church  in  Hills- 
boro;  St.  Matthew's  Parish  Church  was  the  only  church 
in  the  town. 

From  the  departure  of  Parson  Micklejohn,  apparently 
about  the  first  of  the  year  1776,  there  was  no  clergyman 
in  the  parish  for  many  years.  The  church  was  used  for 
the  great  State  Assemblies  above  mentioned,  and  prob- 
ably for  any  other  purpose,  religious  or  secular,  which 
might  seem  to  require  its  use.  At  one  time  it  is  said  to 
have  been  used  as  a  school  house.  In  the  course  of  time 
it  became  ruinous.  Early  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  it 
was  pulled  down,  and  a  church  building,  the  one  at  pres- 
ent used  by  the  Presbyterian  Congregation,  was  erected 
by  popular  subscription,  the  church-yard  continuing  to 
be  the  general  burying  ground  of  the  community.* 

The  first  minister  to  reside  in  Hillsboro,  and  to  organ- 

*  Mr.  Frank  Nash  informs  me  that  there  was  not  only  a  general  sub- 
scription for  the  erection  of  this  building,  but  that  funds  for  this  purpose 
were  also  raised  by  a  lottery. 


[19] 


ize  a  congregation  and  maintain  regular  services,  was  the 
Rev.  John  Witherspcon,  a  Presbyterian,  half-brother  of 
Chief  Justice  Frederick  Nash.  This  congregation  used 
the  church  as  their  regular  place  of  worship,  making,  how- 
ever, no  claim  of  ownership,  and  yielding  it  to  other  minis- 
ters when  others  desired  the  use  of  it.  This  being  con- 
tinued for  some  years  gradually  identified  the  building  as 
a  "Presbyterian  Church"  in  the  popular  mind. 

When  the  present  organization  of  St.  Matthew's 
Church  was  effected  in  1824,  the  question  naturally  arose 
as  to  whether  the  Parish  should  claim  the  old  church-yard 
and  the  building  erected  thereon.  One  of  the  early  ordin- 
ances of  the  Halifax  Congress  of  1776  had  secured  to  the 
Episcopal  Church  all  Churches,  Church-yards,  Glebes, 
Church  plate,  and  other  property  in  possession  of  the 
Church  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution.* 

In  my  mind  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  church 
and  church-yard  in  Hillsboro  came  within  the  purpose 
and  meaning  of  that  Ordinance.  The  late  John  W.  Nor- 
wood, of  Hillsboro,  from  whom  I  received  the  foregoing 
account  of  the  decay  and  demolition  of  old  St.  Matthew's 
Church,  and  of  the  erection  of  the  present  building;  and 
also  of  the  process  by  which  it  came  into  the  occupancy 
and  possession  of  the  Presbyterian  Congregation,  told 

*  This  Ordinance  is  in  general  terms,  and  does  not  name  any  particular 
church,  or  denomination,  but  it  wr.s  evidently  worded  to  meet  the  case  of 
the  churches  and  parishes  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  State,  whose  title 
might  have  been  supposed  to  be  affected  by  the  very  great  alteration 
in  their  legal  status  caused  by  the  Revolution.  Indeed  Mr.  John  Norwood, 
in  speaking  of  the  title  of  St.  Matthew's  Parish  to  the  parish  church  and 
church-yard,  suggested  that  the  Church  of  England,  being  a  foreign  corpora- 
tion, was  necessarily  evicted  from  its  property  by  the  results  of  our  becoming 
an  independent  nation.  I  pointed  out  to  him  the  Ordinance  of  the  Halifax 
Congress;  but  I  further  called  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  title  to 
church  property  in  the  parish  was  in  the  "Wardens  and  Vestrymen  of  St. 
Matthew's  Church,  Orange  County,"  who  were  no  more  a  "foreign  corpora- 
tion" than  the  Trustees  of  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  Orange  County. 

[20] 


me  further  that  in  1824  there  was  a  suggestion  that  the 
newly  organized  vestry  of  St.  Matthew's  Church  should 
assert  their  claim  to  this  church.  He  said  that  Judge 
Ruffin,  in  after  years,  would  often  say  to  him  pleasantly, 
"You  Presbyterians  are  using  our  property."  But  he 
said  Judge  Ruffin  had  opposed  the  suggestion  that  they 
should  claim  it,  and  thus  deprive  the  Presbyterian  con- 
gregation of  its  use.  He  said  to  his  fellow-vestrymen  in 
1824  that  to  enforce  that  claim  would  cause  variance  and 
strife  between  themselves  and  their  good  friends  and  neigh- 
bors. He  therefore  offered  for  the  location  of  their  church 
and  church-yard  as  much  of  his  property  as  the  Vestry 
might  think  sufficient ;  and  so  St.  Matthew's  new  church 
was  built  upon  its  present  site. 

The  following  extract  from  the  records  of  the  parish 
gives  the  formal  document  organizing  the  parish  in  1824: 

Organization  of  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Hilxsboro 
August  23,  1824 

We,  whose  names  are  subscribed,  do  hereby  form  our- 
selves into  a  Congregation  to  be  known  by  the  name  of 
St.  Matthew's  Church;  and  we  do  hereby  promise  con- 
formity to  the  constitution  and  canons  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  as  established  by  General  Convention 
of  the  same. 

Eliza  Estes,  Mary  P.  Ashe,  Elizabeth  Ashe,  Mary  R. 
Anderson,  Sally  Grove,  William  Norwood,  Ann  Ruffin, 
P.  R.  Anderson,  Ann  O.  Cameron,  Thomas  Ruffin,  Josiah 
Turner,  Stephen  Moore,  William  Cain,  Jr.,  William  Bar- 
ry Grove,  Robina  Norwood,  Benjamin  B.  Blume,  Francis 
L.  Hawks,  Elizabeth  Norwood,  Walker  Anderson,  Emily 


[21] 


Hawks,  T.  Latta,*  Thomas  Carney,  W.  E.  Anderson, 
Thomas  J.  Faddis,  Elizabeth  Latta  (mother),  Mary  Lat- 
ta,  Jonathan  Sneed,  Elizabeth  Latta  (daughter),  Ellen 
Latta,  N.  Hoston,  Catherine  Hoston. 

This  record  in  the  Parish  Vestry  Book  is  unfortun- 
ately not  the  original  document,  with  the  actual  signa- 
tures of  those  who  thus  joined  to  organize  the  parish. 
It  was  copied  into  the  Parish  Record  from  the  original 
in  possession  of  the  Rev.  William  M.  Green,  and  was  prob- 
ably written  in  some  book  kept  by  Mr.  Green  as  an  official 
record  of  his  own  work  and  ministrations.  The  hand- 
writing in  the  Parish  Record  is  that  of  the  second  Rector, 
the  Rev.  Henry  H.  Prout.  Mr.  Prout's  other  entries 
show  that  he  was  not  very  careful  and  accurate  in  his 
entries.  In  the  names  signed  to  the  foregoing  paper  are, 
I  feel  sure,  some  inaccuracies.  I  have  ventured  to  correct 
only  one — 1the  name  of  William  Norwood,  given  in  this 
record  as  William  Harwood!    I  believe  there  are  others. 

WThat  I  would  emphasize  in  connection  with  this  action 
in  1824,  is  that,  though  St.  Matthew's  Church,  as  an  or- 
ganization under  the  Constitution  and  Canons  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  and 
in  the  Diocese  of  North  Carolina,  is  a  new  corporation, 
it  is,  in  fact,  but  the  perpetuation  of  the  life  of  the  past. 
It  is,  as  I  have  before  stated,  the  gathering  up  of  broken 
strands,  and  renewing  continuity  with  the  past,  the  per- 
petuation of  the  old  life  under  new  forms.  The  time  at 
my  command  has  been  too  limited  to  allow  of  any  suffi- 
cient inquiry  into  the  family  history  of  the  seventeen  sur- 
names in  the  list  of  thirty-one  persons  who  joined  in  or- 

*  Instead  of  T.  Latta,  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  read  J.  Latta,  i.e.,  John 
Latta.  In  copying  writing  of  that  period  the  J.  might  easily  be  mistaken  for  T. 

[22] 


ganizing  the  parish  in  1824;  and  I  am  writing  these  lines 
on  a  steamer  in  a  fog,  off  the  rocky  coast  of  Newfound- 
land, very  far  from  all  sources  of  information.  But,  even 
so,  I  am  able  to  recognize  many  of  these  names  as  be- 
longing to  old  Colonial  Church  families,  some  of  them 
parishioners  of  Parson  Micklejohn,  others  from  other  Co- 
lonial Churches  of  North  Carolina  and  of  Virginia.  The 
name  of  most  frequent  occurrence,  in  the  list  of  members 
in  1824,  is  Latta.  These  were  old  Colonial  Churchmen 
of  St.  Matthew's  Parish.  There  were  two  families  of  this 
name,  whether  closely  related  or  not,  I  do  not  know.  One 
family,  living  some  miles  west  of  Hillsboro,  was  called 
familiarly  the  "Long  Lattas,"  from  their  unusual  height; 
the  others,  east  of  the  town,  were  spoken  of  as  the  "Short 
Lattas,"  being  of  only  medium  stature.  Their  descend- 
ants still  survive  here  and  elsewhere,  loyal  to  the  old 
Church  of  their  fathers. 

Two  on  the  list,  Mary  P.  Ashe  and  Elizabeth  Ashe, 
were  daughters  of  Samuel  Ashe,  whose  wife  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Colonel  William  Shepperd,  and  a  granddaughter 
of  Egbert  Haywood,  thus  representing  three  eminent  Co- 
lonial families. 

I  am  informed  that  Ann  O.  Cameron  was  the  widow 
of  the  Rev.  John  Cameron,  of  Old  Blandford  Church,  Pe- 
tersburg, and  the  mother  of  a  notable  family  of  sons  and 
daughters,  Judge  Duncan  Cameron  and  Judge  John  A. 
Cameron,  among  them.  Certainly  she  was  a  "mother  in 
Israel."  I  can  think  of  no  one  who  in  her  own  life-time 
saw  a  greater  number  of,  her  descendants  eminent  in 
Church  and  State.  Among  them  were  several  other  of 
these  founders  of  the  parish:  the  Andersons,  Walker  An- 


[23] 


derson,  afterward  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Florida,  and  William  E.  Anderson,  a  noted  teacher. 

Judge  William  Norwood,  the  first  Junior  Warden,  was 
the  son  of  John  Norwood,  Colonial  layman  and  Lay- 
reader,  of  Bute  (now  Franklin)  County.  John  Nor- 
wood's wife  was  Leah  Lenoir,  daughter  of  a  good  Edge- 
combe Churchman,  who  in  his  last  will  and  testament, 
made  in  1767,  directed  his  Executor  to  procure  a  copy 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  for  each  of  his  children 
who  had  already  been  provided  for,  and  therefore  were 
to  receive  nothing  under  the  will.  Judge  Norwood's  wife, 
Robina  Hogg,  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  a  Scotch 
Episcopalian,  James  Hogg,  one  of  Parson  Micklejohn's 
Hillsboro  parishioners.  He  has  many  descendants  in  this 
and  other  southern  States ;  many  still  living  in  this  parish, 
who  perpetuate  the  best  qualities  of  their  sturdy  Scotch 
ancestor.  In  this  and  in  other  Dioceses,  they  are  among 
our  most  zealous  laymen;  and  they  have  given  a  number 
of  distinguished  Clergymen  to  the  Church.* 

Stephen  Moore,  of  this  1824  document,  was  of  Mount 
Tirza,  Person  County.  His  family  came  to  North  Caro- 
lina from  New  York,  and  he  was  a  near  relative  of  Bishop 
Richard  Channing  Moore,  of  Virginia.  He  probably 
joined  in  organizing  the  parish  in  Hillsboro  as  being  his 
best  means  of  practical  connection  with  the  Church.  He 
was  the  grandfather  of  Mrs.  James  Horner,  of  Oxford, 
and  great-grandfather  of  Bishop  Horner,  of  Asheville. 

William  Berry  Grove,  of  the  year  1824,  had  been  a 

*  Of  Clergymen,  descendants  of  James  Hogg,  of  Hillsboro,  have  been  the 
Rev.  William  Norwood,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  John  Norwood,  the  Rev.  Joseph  C. 
Huske,  D.D.,  the  Rev.  John  Huske,  the  Rev.  Kirkland  Huske,  the  Rev.  Bar- 
tholomew F.  Huske,  the  Rev.  John  H.  Tillinghast,  and  the  Rev.  William  N. 
Tillinghast;  also  the  Rev.  Marion  Huske,  a  Presbyterian  minister. 

[24] 


member  of  Congress,  from  the  Fayetteville  District,  I 
think.  His  wife,  Sarah  Grove,  was  another  daughter  of 
Colonel  William  Shepperd  and  his  Haywood  wife. 

I  need  not  in  this  presence  pursue  these  personal  in- 
quiries. These  names,  Ruffin,  Turner,  Cain — you  know, 
better  than  I,  what  they  have  stood  for  in  this  community. 
Mr.  Willie  P.  Mangum  never  lived  in  Hillsboro,  nor  was 
a  member  of  St.  Matthew's  Church  here.  Like  Judge 
Cameron,  he  resided  in  the  lower  part  of  the  county;  but 
they  both  lived  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rector  of 
St.  Matthew's.  The  church  built  by  Judge  Cameron  at 
Fairntosh,  as  also  St.  Mary's  Church,  were  practically 
Chapels  of  St.  Matthew's  Parish,  and  were  always  served 
by  the  Rector  of  the  parish,  though  at  times  they  have 
both  been  represented  independently  in  the  Diocese  Con- 
vention. It  seems  to  me  that  both  these  eminent  men 
should  be  reckoned  as  of  St.  Matthew's  Parish. 

There  is  another  name  associated  with  the  parish  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  and  also  under  its  present  organiza- 
tion; though  it  does  not  appear  in  the  proceedings  of 
1824.  General  Francis  Nash,  of  Hillsboro,  and  Gover- 
nor Abner  Nash,  of  Newbern,  were  among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men  of  our  Revolutionary  period.  The  former 
was  of  St.  Matthew's  Parish.  It  was  "Colonel  Francis 
Nash,"  who  was  appointed  by  the  Hillsboro  Congress  of 
August,  1775,  to  wait  on  Parson  Micklejohn,  and  request 
him  to  perform  divine  service  at  the  opening  of  its  session. 
I  conjecture  that  the  Parson  was  known  to  be  rather 
unsympathetic  in  his  attitude,  and  therefore  the  Congress 
appointed  his  most  distinguished  parishioner  to  use  his 
influence  to  secure  his  services. 

[25] 


Chief  Justice  Frederick  Nash,  son  of  Governor  Abner 
Nash,  was  a  kind  and  valued  friend  of  my  father  when  a 
young  law  student  in  Raleigh.  He  told  my  father  that 
his  family  had  been  an  old  Church  of  England  family; 
and  that  he  himself  had  been  brought  up  in  the  Church, 
but  had  become  a  Presbyterian  under  the  influence  of  a 
zealous  and  pious  Presbyterian  Minister,  when  the  Rec- 
tor in  Newbern  was  but  a  cold  and  ineffective  pastor. 

I  think  there  are  no  descendants  of  General  Francis 
Nash  now  living  in  Hillsboro,  though  there  are  in  other 
parts  of  the  State.  But  of  the  descendants  of  Governor 
Abner  Nash  there  are  many  in  this  parish,  and  elsewhere 
in  this  and  other  Dioceses.  Of  the  descendants  of  his  son, 
Chief  Justice  Nash,  many  have  returned  to  the  Church 
in  which  he  was  reared,  and  by  their  character  and  labors 
strengthen  and  extend  its  work  and  influence.  You  do 
not  need  to  have  them  named. 

That  was  certainly  a  most  remarkable  vestry  chosen 
at  the  organization  of  the  parish  in  1824.  There  were 
but  five,  and  four  of  the  five  were  Thomas  Ruflin,  Chief 
Justice  soon  afterward  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  North 
Carolina,  and  recognized  as  one  of  the  greatest  lawyers 
our  country  has  ever  produced;  Francis  L.  Hawks,  a 
name  unique  in  connection  with  historical  and  literary 
pursuits,  and  one  of  the  great  pulpit  orators  of  his  day; 
Walker  Anderson,  afterward  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Florida;  and  William  Norwood,  an  eminent 
Superior  Court  Judge  of  our  State. 

The  parish  was  also  happy  in  its  first  rector.  Few 
men  in  the  history  of  the  Diocese,  or  of  the  Church  in  the 
United  States,  have  been  more  truly  admirable  in  char- 

[26] 


acter,  pure  and  blameless  in  life,  and  more  effective  in 
their  ministry,  than  the  Rev.  William  Mercer  Green,  first 
rector  of  the  parish  as  at  present  organized,  and  after- 
ward for  thirty-seven  years  Bishop  of  Mississippi.  As 
he  organized  this  parish,  so  he  had  organized  the  parish 
of  Emmanuel  Church,  Warrenton,  and  built  the  church 
in  both  these  parishes;  and  later  built  the  church  at 
Chapel  Hill.  He  was  really  more  influential  than  any 
other  person  in  the  choice  of  Bishop  Ravenscroft  as  our 
first  Bishop  in  1823.  He  did  not  seem  to  be  a  man  of 
very  commanding  intellect  or  of  special  personal  powers. 
I  say  he  did  not  seem  to  be  of  extraordinary  genius  or 
impressiveness.  But  there  was  a  simplicity  of  Christian 
sincerity  and  love,  a  sweet  persuasive  spirit,  a  personal 
grace,  a  cultivated  mind,  a  quiet  zeal  and  a  spiritual 
force,  which  made  him  always  and  everywhere  acceptable, 
beloved,  and  most  effective  in  his  ministry.  He  remained 
in  the  parish  fifteen  years.  In  1838  he  was  elected  Pro- 
fessor in  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  His  ministry 
in  Hillsboro  had  been  most  fruitful.  Certainly  few  men 
in  so  small  a  community  can  show  such  a  list — not  in 
numbers,  but  in  quality  of  persons  presented  for  Con- 
firmation, and  of  men  who  became  Candidates  for  Holy 
Orders  under  his  pastorate.* 

*  During  his  rectorship  of  St.  Matthew's  Church,  the  following  men,  each 
quite  a  marked  man  in  his  way,  became  Candidates  for  the  Ministry,  appar- 
ently under  his  guiding  influence:  William  Norwood,  Francis  L.  Hawks, 
William  W.  Spear,  and  Samuel  Johnston.  It  seems  that  both  James  H.  Otey, 
afterward  Bishop  of  Tennessee,  and  George  W.  Freeman,  afterward  Bishop 
of  Arkansas,  were  members  of  his  congregation  in  Warrenton,  and  were 
doubtless  also  influenced  by  him  in  seeking  the  ministry. 

On  the  occasion  of  Bishop  Ives's  first  visitation  to  Hillsboro,  in  October, 
1832,  Mr.  Green  presented  thirty  persons  for  Confirmation;  among  whom  were 
the  following  notable  group  of  young  men  from  the  University  at  Chapel 
Hill:  Charles  L.  Pettierrew,  William  S.  Pettigrew,  Julian  E.  Sawyer,  John 
H.  Haughton,  Richard  B.  Creecy,  Edward  W.  Jones,  and  Thomas  B.  Hill. 


[27  1 


For  a  time  he  also  taught  in  a  school  for  girls,  in 
which  he  was  associated  with  Mr.  Walker  Anderson  and 
Miss  Maria  Spear.  And  in  St.  Matthew's  Church  dur- 
ing his  time  notable  services  were  held.  Here  Bishop 
Ravenscroft  ordained  to  the  Priesthood  the  Rev.  James 
H.  Otey,  afterwards  the  great  Bishop  of  Tennessee,  and 
with  Bishops  Polk  and  Elliott,  founder  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  the  South  at  Sewanee;  and  here  Bishop  Ives 
ordained  the  Rev.  Samuel  I.  Johnston  and  the  Rev. 
William  W.  Spear.  In  1826  and  in  1835  the  Diocesan 
Convention  met  in  this  church.  His  ministry  was  not 
confined  to  Hillsboro  during  these  fruitful  years,  but 
took  in  also  St.  Mary's  Church,  Orange  County,  the  old 
Mission  of  St.  Jude's,  and  for  a  time  a  small  congrega- 
tion in  Milton.  Judge  Duncan  Cameron,  at  that  time 
the  leading  layman  in  the  Diocese,  built  a  church  called 
Salem  Chapel,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  county,  at  Fairn- 
tosh,  and  there  also  Mr.  Green  ministered  regularly.  The 
first  Rector  of  St.  Matthew's,  he  whom  we  specially 
remember  on  this  anniversary,  left  behind  him  in  the 
parish  a  notable  record  of  labor  and  of  achievement.* 

Mr.  Green  was  succeeded  in  1838  by  the  Rev.  Henry 
H.  Prout,  who  in  June  1839  was  instituted  as  Rector  by 
Bishop  Ives.  Mr.  Prout  was  an  excellent  man,  and  his 
name  is  honorably  associated  with  the  missionary  work 
of  the  Diocese,  especially  in  connection  with  Bishop  Ives's 
Valle  Crucis  Missions  and  the  work  in  that  section.  Like 

*  An  interesting  fact  connected  with  Bishop  Green's  association  with  this 
Parish,  is  that  on  resigning  in  1838  to  remove  to  Chapel  Hill,  he  made  a 
formal  request  of  the  Vestry  that  at  his  death  his  body  might  be  buried  in 
St.  Matthew's  Church-yard.  The  Vestry  thereupon,  by  a  Resolution  entered 
in  the  record  of  their  proceedings,  granted  this  request. 

[28] 


most  of  those  who  have  been  instituted  in  this  Diocese,  his 
rectorship  was  brief.    He  left  the  parish  in  1841. 

Mr.  Prout  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev.  Moses  Ashley 
Curtis.  It  happens  not  infrequently  that  the  character 
and  influence  of  a  parish  is  the  work  of  one  or  two  strong 
personalities.  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Hillsboro,  during 
the  first  century  of  its  existence,  took  its  true  character 
and  impress  from  two  men,  its  first  rector  and  its  third, 
Mr.  Green  and  Dr.  Curtis.  Other  rectors  it  has  had,  good 
and  faithful  men,  who  did  their  duty,  and  commanded 
the  confidence,  respect,  and  affection  of  their  people.  But 
to  my  mind  those  two  men  gave  it  its  special  quality. 
They  possessed  that  peculiar  power  which  commands 
respect,  and  in  a  measure  compels  obedience,  or  at  any 
rate  some  degree  of  conformity,  to  its  teaching  and  exam- 
ple. Mr.  Green  had  the  parish  in  its  formative  period; 
he  laid  out  the  lines  upon  which  it  began  its  development. 
Dr.  Curtis  took  it  almost  from  Mr.  Green's  hand,  and 
from  1841  to  1872 — with  an  interval  of  about  ten  years, 
during  which  the  memory  of  his  influence  had  not  ceased 
to  operate — his  strong  character,  quiet  and  gentle,  but 
pervasive  personality,  guided  the  elders  of  the  congrega- 
tion, and  formed  the  opening  minds  and  hearts  of  a  gen- 
eration of  young  men  and  women,  who  still,  in  their  own 
persons,  or  in  the  character  and  work  of  their  children, 
are  the  strength  and  aggressive  force  of  the  Church  in 
this,  and  many  other  parishes,  in  this  and  in  other  Dio- 
ceses. These  two  men,  in  my  judment,  have  been  among 
the  most  potent  influences  in  the  growth  and  development 
of  the  Church  in  North  Carolina. 

Dr.  Curtis  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  came 


[29] 


to  North  Carolina  as  a  teacher.  He  married  in  Wilming- 
ton Miss  Mary  DeRosset,  of  one  of  Wilmington's  most 
noted  families,  who  had  occupied  the  first  rank,  in  char- 
acter and  in  positions  of  civic  honor,  among  the  many 
eminent  families  of  that  city.  Taking  Holy  Orders  at 
the  hands  of  Bishop  Ives,  he  had  for  a  short  time  minis- 
tered about  Washington,  N.  C,  and  for  a  year  or  two 
he  was  the  head  of  the  Episcopal  Academy  in  Raleigh. 
But  in  Hillsboro  he  formed  his  real  place  and  life-work. 
In  scientific  attainments  and  in  intellectual  culture  he  has 
had  no  superior  and  few  equals  among  our  clergy.  He 
was  a  great  original  authority  in  certain  branches  of 
botany,  known  over  the  world  as  such.  He  was  a  skillful 
musician,  and  under  his  influence  and  instruction  the 
music  in  this  little  parish  church  was  such  as  was  hardly 
to  be  heard  in  other  churches.  Hillsboro  has  always 
been  known  for  the  social  graces  of  its  people.  Dr.  Cur- 
tis, I  think,  had  his  influence  in  adding  just  a  refining 
touch,  especially  to  the  young  women  of  Hillsboro,  of  his 
own  congregation,  and  of  others  as  well ;  for  it  is  a  crown- 
ing glory  of  old  Hillsboro  that  its  Christian  spirit  has 
not  been  cramped  or  deteriorated  by  narrowness  of  sec- 
tarian strife  or  dissension. 

Dr.  Curtis  removed  to  Society  Hill,  S.  C,  in  1847, 
but  in  1857  his  name  appears  again  in  our  Diocesan 
Clergy  List ;  and  I  have  preferred  to  treat  his  rectorship 
as  a  whole.  In  spite  of  this  inter-regnum,  there  was  an 
essential  continuity  in  his  work  in  this  parish. 

In  1848  the  Rev.  James  B.^£)onelly  took  charge  of 
the  parish;  and  died  the  latter  part  of  1855.  He  was, 
as  I  have  heard,  an  earnest  and  devout  man,  but  seems 

[30] 


to  have  been  in  bad  health  during  the  greater  part  of  his 
ministry?  and,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  judge,  made 
no  great  or  permanent  impression  on  the  parish  or  the 
community ;  though  I  have  always  heard  him  affection- 
ately spoken  of  by  members  of  the  parish. 

Dr.  Curtis  died  April  10th,  1872,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  the  Rev.  Charles  Jared  Curtis,  who  was  or- 
dained to  the  Diaconate  August  7th,  following  his  fath- 
er's death;  and  by  appointment  of  the  Bishop  served  his 
Diaconate  in  the  parish.  Having  been  ordained  to  the 
Priesthood  December  14th,  1873,  he  became  Rector,  and 
served  until  his  resignation  July  24th,  1880. 

I  do  not  propose  to  speak  particularly  of  the  suc- 
cessors of  Dr.  Curtis.  It  is  too  soon  to  estimate  their 
work  or  character.  They  were  the  Rev.  Charles  J.  Cur- 
tis, from  1872  to  1880;  the  Rev.  Joseph  W.  Murphy, 
from  1881  to  1892;  the  Rev.  Benjamin  McKenzie,  from 
1892  to  1896;  the  Rev.  Samuel  Paxson  Watters,  from 
1897  to  1911;  the  Rev.  Alfred  S.  Lawrence,  from  1912 
to  1917 ;  and  the  Rev.  William  D.  Benton,  from  1917  until 
the  present  time. 

I  wish  I  had  the  time  and  the  knowledge  to  speak  ade- 
quately of  the  distinguished  laymen  of  the  parish.  Those 
associated  with  its  organization  one  hundred  years  ago, 
of  whom  I  have  very  briefly  and  insufficiently  spoken,  have 
not  been  the  only  ones  whose  names  should  be  remembered 
with  honor  this  day.  But,  before  I  mention  any  other 
name,  I  remind  you  of  one  noble  woman,  whom  most,  if 
not  all,  of  you  must  have  in  mind  before  I  name  her,  your 
organist  for  so  many  years,  the  faithful  co-laborer  with 
Dr.  Curtis  in  creating  the  high  standard  of  sacred  music, 

[31]  * 


which  characterized  his  services ;  and  the  perpetuator 
for  so  many  years  after  his  death  of  his  musical  tradition, 
— Miss  Lizzie  Jones.  Omitting  only  the  names  of  Bishop 
Green  and  Dr.  Curtis,  I  doubt  if  any  should  be  put  on 
a  level  with  hers,  in  respect  to  her  influence  upon  the  life 
and  work  of  the  parish,  as  well  on  its  spiritual  side,  as  in 
the  expression  of  that  life  in  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary. 
Someone  once  asked  a  young  clergyman  of  this  Diocese, 
who  was  about  to  be  married,  if  the  prospective  bride  was 
beautiful.  "She  has  the  beauty  of  holiness"  was  the 
reply.  That  is  how  I  think  of  Miss  Lizzie  Jones.  In  my 
mind's  eye  I  can  see  her  now,  sitting  there  before  the 
organ,  radiant  with  the  light  of  unaffected  goodness  and 
devotion,  "the  beauty  of  holiness" 

The  Wardens  elected  in  1824  were  Francil  L.  Hawks, 
Senior  Warden,  and  William  Norwood,  Junior  Warden. 

There  is  a  hiatus  in  the  record  as  to  the  election  of 
Wardens  and  Vestrymen.  The  regular  unbroken  record 
begins  in  1838.  From  that  date  the  following  have  been 
the  Wardens,  Senior  and  Junior:  William  Cain,  Joseph 
C.  Norwood,  Priestly  H.  Mangum,  Andrew  Mickle,  Cad- 
walader  Jones,  Henry  K.  Nash,  James  Webb,  Thomas  B. 
Hill,  D.  Hey  ward  Hamilton,  John  W.  Graham,  William 
A.  Hayes. 

Associated  with  these  in  the  history  of  the  parish  have 
been  others,  more  than  I  can  enumerate.  Some  of  them, 
perhaps  some  of  the  best,  I  may  never  have  heard  of. 
There  was  Colonel  Cadwalader  Jones,  the  elder;  and 
Colonel  Cadwalader  Jones,  the  younger,  who  removed  to 
South  Carolina,  and  carried  with  him  his  good  North 
Carolina  Churchmanship,  and  was  one  of  those  who  stood 

[32] 


by  the  Bishop  in  one  of  their  painful  experiences  in  deal- 
ing with  the  question  of  the  status  of  the  Negro  in  the 
Church. 

There  was  Dr.  James  S.  Smith,  member  of  Congress 
from  this  District,  father  of  my  old  friend  and  parish- 
ioner, Miss  Mary  Ruffin  Smith,  of  Chapel  Hill ;  and  Judge 
John  L.  Bailey,  of  our  Superior  Court  Bench,  with  others 
no  less  worthy. 

My  own  memory  goes  back  to  Judge  Ruffin,  after 
whom  came  his  notable  sons,  whom  I  can  recall  in  this 
congregation:  Mr.  Brown  Ruffin,  Colonel  Thomas  Ruffin, 
Mr.  Sterling  Ruffin;  and  his  daughters,  quite  as  notable. 
Then  there  were  Mr.  John  D.  Cameron,  Mr.  Henry  K. 
Nash,  Mr.  Paul  Cameron,  Dr.  William  Cameron,  and 
their  families;  Mr.  George  Collins,  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Hill, 
and  my  father-in-law,  Mr.  James  Webb.  In  our  Diocesan 
Journal  of  1893,  the  last  named,  with  his  son  and  his 
grandson,  three  James  Webbs,  appear  in  the  list  of  the 
elected  delegates  to  that  Convention.  And  there  are  still 
James  Webbs  here  in  Hillsboro  to  carry  on  the  work. 

I  shall  say  one  word  of  another  good  woman.  I  can- 
not venture  to  speak  at  length  of  Hillsboro  women.  What 
I  think  and  feel  about  them  it  is  beyond  my  power  fully 
to  express.  My  old  friend  and  Junior  Warden  of  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Charlotte,  Colonel  Hamilton  C.  Jones, 
once  said  to  me  that  there  seemed  to  be  something  pecu- 
liarly refined  about  them.  "Mr.  Cheshire,"  he  said,  "I 
think  I  can  know  a  lady  from  Hillsboro  by  the  way  she 
walks  along  the  street."  I  have  thought  that  I  could 
understand  what  he  meant.  And  in  paying  this  tribute 
to  them  all,  I  am  going  to  mention  only  one.   And  she  was 


[33] 


not  a  Hillsboro  woman  after  all.  She  was  from  Orange 
Court  House,  Virginia,  Mrs.  Watters,  wife  of  jour  former 
Rector,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Paxson  Watters.  The  greater 
part  of  her  time  in  Hillsboro,  she  was  an  invalid,  for  years 
helpless  and  suffering,  confined  to  her  room  and  to  her 
chair.  And  yet,  so  far  as  I  could  judge,  she  was  one  of 
the  most  effective  and  useful  women  in  the  Diocese.  This 
Parish  benefited  by  her  as  few  parishes  do  by  the  services 
of  the  Rector's  wife.  I  feel  I  ought  to  say  this.  You  who 
hear  me  know  that  I  say  the  truth. 

But  I  cannot  go  on.  You  yourselves  see  how  impos- 
sible it  must  be  for  me  to  discuss  these,  our  own  friends, 
kinsfolk,  associates  and  companions,  who  are  still  so  near 
to  us.  We  remember  them  all  before  God  this  day,  and 
thank  Him  for  what  they  have  been  to  us.  Being  dead, 
they  yet  speak.  Listen  to  what  in  your  hearts  they  say 
to  you;  and  follow  after  them  in  those  things  which  you 
are  proud  and  thankful  to  remember  in  them.  Their 
bodies  are  buried  in  peace,  but  their  names  live  forever 
in  our  hearts. 

I  will  add  one  word  concerning  the  Rev.  Joseph  W. 
Murphy,  your  sixth  Rector.  When  Bishop  Atkinson 
ordained  me  to  the  Diaconate  on  Easter  Day,  1878,  the 
Bishop  himself  preached  the  Ordination  Sermon,  from  the 
text,  "Moreover,  it  is  required  in  stewards  that  a  man  be 
found  faithful.9'  I  have  often  thought  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Murphy  as  being  one  of  the  most  faithful  men  I  have  ever 
known.  I  mention  one  simple,  but  to  me  pathetic,  illus- 
tration of  this  quality.  The  Canons  require  every  clergy- 
man to  report  annually  to  the  Bishop  all  his  official  acts. 
Mr.  Murphy  never  failed  in  this  duty,  even  after  age  had 

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compelled  his  retirement  from  active  service.  Every  year 
there  came  to  me  from  Washington  the  report  of  such 
infrequent  services  as  he  had  performed.  After  his  death 
his  daughter  found  in  his  desk  a  paper  endorsed,  "To  be 
sent  to  the  Bishop  after  my  death."  She  sent  it  to  me. 
I  opened  it  and  found  a  report  of  every  service  performed 
by  him  since  the  date  of  his  last  annual  report :  "Be  thou 
faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a  crown  of  life." 

On  this  one  hundredth  anniversary  I  give  you  that 
incident  as  an  example,  and  trust  you  may  all  follow  that 
humble  and  faithful  man. 


[35] 


